Welp MagazineCraft brewers are known for their personal, responsive and fresh approach to beer making. That commitment brings with it certain challenges that require operational precision, flexibility and efficiency.
For many brewers, that means using the right enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution that creates opportunity and responds to evolving tastes and needs.
Why does a brewery need an ERP?
Every craft brewer is different, but there are common needs, such as inventory management and cost containment. Providing a consistent beer quality and ensuring that customers get what they need when they need it requires being on top of the data that dictates production, capacity, sales and customer data.
ERP solutions are already used by leading global brewers for supply chain efficiency, budgeting and financial planning, competitive intelligence and product innovation.
Effective, smart ERP can make or break a business. It can be the difference between stagnant success and explosive growth. You need to make sure your ERP is the former.
Benefits of ERP for Craft Brewers
Lower raw material costs: Craft brewers are known for working with limited resources, and more than 80 percent of all craft breweries operate on extremely thin profit margins. Working with variable costs of raw materials, planning for volume spikes, and anticipating seasonality can protect profits while accommodating growth.
Production efficiency: With an integrated solution, beer production can be highly responsive, especially when a high volume of customer orders can drive inventory needs. As a result, craft brewers can increase profitability, accessibility, and flexibility, which is increasingly important in a highly competitive market.
Sales and marketing benefits: With the right ERP solution, craft breweries can improve sales, streamline service, and improve marketing efforts for continued growth.
Driving operational results with ERP
Brewing is a reliable and accurate process, but the challenges of managing a small business can strain resources. With the right ERP solution, breweries can improve production, support purchase orders and inventory management, and engage with happy customers.
Craft breweries are diverse in size and so are their ERP needs, and the right ERP solution should consider the brewer’s goals, size, and industry.
ERP can help breweries compare business metrics like sales forecasts, labor costs, and inventory levels in the context of market opportunities. ERP solutions can easily measure the level of loyalty customers have to your product and can visualize the relationship between cost, sales, and gross profits.
A leading ERP solution will provide data and analysis based in your industry insight and enterprise intelligence gained from many leading breweries over the last 30 years. Before filling your warehouse with beer, evaluate your operational and financial goals and needs to ensure the right ERP system is a good fit.
